


More than a Shield

by Mustang_Girl16



Series: One Shots [10]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Family, Fluff, I Don't Even Know, Irish Steve Rogers, Protective Natasha Romanov, Steve Needs a Hug, Steve Rogers Feels, Whiskey - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 02:18:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13649382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mustang_Girl16/pseuds/Mustang_Girl16
Summary: Something has been bugging Steve and Natasha is determined to get to the bottom of it...she just hadn't expected this.





	More than a Shield

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know. I wrote this a while a ago and just picked it up again and bam! But like I don't even know what my brain was thinking when I wrote this, but I saw that thing on Tumblr that said to post even if you think it's shit or lame or whatever. So here you go!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters but the plot and crazy theories are mine. And no money was made from this. Though i did work on it at work since there was nothing better to do than watch paint dry. God I can't wait till spring.

Natasha watched from around the corner as Steve took out his frustrations on yet another punching bag. It’d been three months since the attack on Ultron, and she knew he was still having a hard time with it all. They all were, but for some reason Steve was the one most outwardly affected. He’d been changed and while that was to be expected, she hadn’t expected _this._

His routines were out of whack, he didn’t spar with her as often, and he’d changed his fighting style. He was also more cautious about the way they went about missions. Changing from the usual tactics. But what unnerved her most of all was that he _never left the base._ Not once since coming here had he left. Of course, she knew Steve wasn’t a social butterfly, but he would go out with Sam or her to the bar in town have a few drinks.

Now though he just refused, declined, said he was too busy or just didn’t bother giving a reason. While that may not seem like much of a change the problem was he’d sneak out. Steve Rogers _was sneaking out_. Where he went or what he did Natasha didn’t know, but this wasn’t like him and it was starting to scare her.

Still though that didn’t keep her from trying, hence why she was now watching him from the shadows as another punching bag was turned to dust. It was time to put a stop to his brooding once and for all.

“Geez, what’d that poor sand bag ever do to you?” Natasha asked stepping out of the shadows. He barely acknowledged the jab, simply picking up another one and hanging it up. His knuckles were bleeding and she haggard a guess that he’d been at this a lot longer than she’d been standing there for.

“What’s up, we have a mission?”

She shook her head. “No.”

He furrowed his brow fully turning to look at her.

“Then why are you here?” He asked her, his gaze skeptical.

“What’s going on with you Steve?”

There was no point in trying to beat around the bush. Not now anyways.

“Nothing.” Steve said, brushing it off.

She scoffed at that, knowing damn well it wasn’t true.

“Seriously Steve, talk to me.”

Steve sighed, he looked tired, more than tired. He looked _exhausted._ Both physically and mentally.

“I’m fine Nat, please just let it go.”

Natasha frowned as he turned his back on her focusing back on the punching bag in front of him.

Fine. If he wasn’t going to tell her than she’d just have to find out another way. Okay so maybe her “other way” was a little invasive, but either way she needed to know what was going on with Steve. She waited for him to get showered and changed before watching him slip out of the facility without another soul noticing. He was getting smarter and if she wasn’t so worried she’d be impressed. But she was worried, hence why she hopped onto her bike and followed him. Followed him all the way to Brooklyn and lost him.

Seriously though he’s six-one, blonde and Captain America, you’d think a bystander would spot him easily and she’s the Black Widow. She kept driving until she found his bike parked across the street from an old broken-down bar on a relatively quiet street. It was unassuming and low profile compared to the other shops and restaurants surrounding the corner.

“What are you up to Rogers?” Natasha asked no one in particular as she got off her bike and walked over to the bar, inspecting the outside before going in.

It was unlocked and quiet, one might think empty if not for the shoe prints in the dust.

“Why are you following me?”

Natasha whirled around, ready to strike only to find Steve leaning up against the back wall. She lowered her guard at his defensive poster.

“You obviously weren’t going to tell me what was going on so…”

Steve narrowed his eyes at her and she wondered for a moment if she’d crossed the line a little too far. When he didn’t answer she sighed relaxing her posture all the way.

“Steve, please just tell me what’s going on? Whatever it is it can’t be that bad, I mean it’s you.” Steve rolled his eyes at her.

“If you really believed that then you wouldn’t be here.”

That was true.

“You’re right. I’m worried Steve. This isn’t like you. Whatever is going on you can tell me…please I just want to make sure you’re okay.” She was standing in front of him now, cupping his face in her hands making him look at her.

“I just…” He sighed, diverting his gaze. “I promised someone something a long time ago and never realized till now I never made good on it.”

Natasha brushed her thumb over his cheek bone knowing exactly what he was talking about.

“Steve…you miss her I know, but you know you can’t-” He met her gaze again brows furrowed in confusion.

“What? No, I got that dance. It was the first thing Peg made me do after visiting her.”

Natasha opened and closed her mouth knowing that his vision had been about her.

“I thought you-but your vision…”

Steve shook his head and she let her hands drop.

“It was a lot of things, but Peggy’s not who I’m talking about…look it’s a long story that I’d prefer not to get into.” Natasha frowned folding her arms.

“Steve, something is bugging you and you can either tell me now or I’ll just find out some other way.”

Steve scowled at her and okay, she was really pushing that boundary, but damn it she was worried!

“Good luck with that. I’ll see you back at base.” Steve said, side stepping around her and walking from the bar. She heard his bike turn over before taking off and she looked around the empty desiccating bar wondering what was so painful he wouldn’t even tell her?

* * *

He didn’t come right back to base and it didn’t surprise her in the least, but it did give her time to think. She was sitting at the counter picking at a muffin when Sam walked in.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Sam asked taking a seat beside her.

Natasha laughed.

“I don’t think either one of us has that many pennies.”

Sam chuckled smiling.

“What’s up?”

Natasha shrugged, that was kind of a loaded question.

“I confronted Steve about what’s bothering.”

Sam sighed, reaching into the basket of fruit and pulling out an orange.

“Yeah and how’d that go?”

“It didn’t. He told me he’d promised someone something and never made good on it.”

Sam nodded slowly, seeming to know where this was headed.

“Oh, we’re back on _that_.”

“That’s what I thought too, but he said he’d gotten passed that. I can’t figure it out Sam and today I found him in an abandoned bar in Brooklyn.”

Sam’s brow creased.

“He only goes there to lament, but first I’m hearing of a bar. Steve can’t even get drunk.”

“Not to mention it was _abandoned_. Either way, has he said anything to you about what’s going on?”

Sam shook his head, his concern evident on his face.

“No and I’ve tried, but he’s not budging. Maybe he’s just finally at his wits end with close calls.”

Natasha shook her head, because she knew that wasn’t it.

“Steve’s a fighter. He lives for-” Natasha paused mid-sentence realizing her words. _Ultron_ …But that couldn’t have caused all this could it?

“Natasha? Hello? You still with me?”

She snapped out of her thoughts looking to Sam.

“He’s hung up on what Ultron told him. He has to be.”

Sam frowned.

“But you just told me he’s hung up on some promise?”

Natasha nodded,

“But what if the two were linked?”

Sam narrowed his eyes pensively at her.

“Okay, but that’s still pretty vague. Gonna need a whole lot more than that.”

She was, but she at least had a jumping point.

“Okay so what would make him so determined?”

Sam snapped his fingers. “Bucky.”

Natasha shook her head at that. Bucky was too important for Steve not to follow through with a promise from the get-go. It had to be someone once important to him, but not that important…

“His Ma than? I don’t know.” Sam said huffing. “Those are the only other people in Steve’s life he would regret breaking a promise. Man had no one else.”

Natasha ran a hand through her hair. Sam was right, Steve really didn’t have a lot of people growing up.

“Maybe, who knows? He’ll tell eventually.”

Sam nodded, getting up.

“He will, just give it time.”

Yeah, but how long would that take?

* * *

Natasha sat on the couch waiting for Steve to get back later that evening and it was driving her insane. He didn’t keep things from her so why was he now? She heard footsteps coming up behind her and turned to see Steve come into view. He looked even more worn than earlier.

“Hey.” Natasha said, giving him a hesitant smile. Steve stood there behind the couch fiddling with his keys. He looked like he had something to say, but didn’t know how.

“Steve…”

He shook his head and she could see his eyes were red rimmed. She moved over on the couch prompting him to sit down, but he kept his distance sitting on the edge and leaning his arms on his knees.

“I uh…God look, I promise I’ll tell you one day what’s going on Nat, but right now I just…I can’t. It’s not that I don’t trust you or anything I just…there are thing’s coming up that I haven’t thought about in a long time and I just need some time.”

Natasha set her book down moving so she was kneeling in front of him and pulled him into a hug. He took it, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face into her neck. If he needed time, then so be it. She could give that to him.

And so, they went on like that. He wasn’t so secretive per say, but he was still fighting with himself. A few weeks after that night Natasha got a knock on her door and found Steve standing there. He still looked exhausted, but there was something of a glint in his eye now.

“Hey.” Natasha greeted still a little worried.

“Take a ride with me?” He asked out of nowhere. He looked nervous, unsure of himself, his shoulders hunched a little. She nodded grabbing her jacket from by the door before following him. If he wanted to go somewhere with her, she wasn’t going to say no.

He handed her a helmet and she got onto the back of his bike after him. They drove for a while until he finally stopped over the bridge into Brooklyn. When she removed her helmet, she looked around the busy street recognizing the old abandoned bar from when she’d confronted him. They got off the bike and he took her hand leading her back into the empty space and by then he was shaking.

“What are we doing here Steve?” Natasha asked, after a few long moments of just standing.

“We’re here because I own it…” Steve said hesitantly, and she moved to stand in front of him, his grip on her hand never failing.

He met her gaze and she could tell this wasn’t planned.

“You own a bar?” Natasha asked for clarification.

“…as of yesterday, yeah…I own a bar.”

Natasha looked at him then looked around at the destitute building before them, her eyes widening as she took in its condition more. _What they hell was he thinking?_ She could _hear_ a pipe leaking somewhere, the windows were broken, there was a hole in the floor and ceiling big enough for a person to fall through and she was positive the place was going to need asbestos and mold removed. And that was only upon first glance. She was amazed someone was even selling it, if it were her she would have just let the city take it.

_What was he thinking?_

“Um…” She started as she looked back to him and she knew he could tell she thought this was a bad investment. Not to mention ironic considering he couldn’t get drunk.

“You think this is a bad idea.” Steve said, seeming to read her thoughts. His face fell a little more and she let out a long breath running a hand through her hair. Just standing there in those short minutes she felt like she needed a chemical shower.

“It’s not exactly an investment I would have made.” Truthful, yet her opinion on what she would do. He looked upset by that and she wondered why he thought she would like this. He knows her well enough.

“Is this like a mid-life crisis thing?” She asked trying to get to the bottom of this spur of the moment decision. He frowned.

“No, I just thought I could use a project outside of the Avengers.” Steve answered.

“So, you choose an abandoned bar in Brooklyn that’s also nearly two hours away from base? Steve if you wanted to do something with your hands there are plenty of old buildings closer to home.”

He frowned at her letting go of her hand and she could tell she hit a sore spot.

“This is why I didn’t tell you.”

She balked at that,

“Because you knew I’d tell you no? Would have saved you…how much money did you even spend on this?” She asked, and he looked down at his feet. So clearly more than it was worth.

“They were going to tear it down.”

“Steve…that’s exactly what this place needs.” Natasha said in slight disbelief. Was he being serious?

“It just needs some remodeling.” Steve murmured not meeting her gaze.

“Steve, there’s a goddamn hole in the floor! This place is covered in mold, termites, feces! It needs a bulldozer.”

He needed to look at this realistically and she couldn’t understand how he wasn’t.

“It’ll work out you’ll see.” He told her instead. He had that hard-set gaze he would get whenever he was determined to prove someone wrong.

“God you’re unbelievable sometimes…” She said out of frustration because this was not realistic! This wasn’t him, which is why she also knew she couldn’t let him go at this alone. “Please tell me you at least have a plan for this?”

He smiled a little, knowing she had his back.

“Nope.” She frowned. _Where was any of this even coming from anyways?_

“If we’re doing this, then we’re doing this right Steve. Which means calling Pepper and having her look into what this is going to cost because…this is going to cost a lot. You may have gotten money from being stuck in the ice, but Steve if this doesn’t pan out…”

“I know, but it will.”

_How could he have so much confidence?_

She sighed.

“Alright, come on. While you can’t catch anything I can, and I like my lungs functional.”

He smiled, and they had a nice dinner at a restaurant on the same street. While he didn’t have a game place on how to go about everything, he at least had an idea of what he wanted to turn it into. He talked to her about some of the things he’d been looking into as they ate. It wasn’t as spur of the moment as she thought and that eased her hesitation a little, but this was still going to be one hell of a project.

* * *

The next morning, she called Pepper asking her if she’d look over the records and specs for the building to see what kind of budget they were going to need to get everything accomplished. Three hours later Pepper herself walked into the common room at base, her arms full of papers and that look was on her face, the one she gets when Tony does something out of the blue but knows it’s better to just go along with it than not to. She dumped the papers onto the table and huffed turning to her.

“One question, are we sure it was Steve who did this and not Tony?” _Oh boy_ …she nodded, and Pepper’s brow creased in worry.

“That bad?”

“Uh well, try bankrupt because that’s where I see this going.”

Natasha’s face fell.

“Who let him buy this place anyways?” Pepper asked, and Natasha sighed.

“No one, he just did it then told me last night.”

“Have you been inside of it? It’s a disaster.” Pepper said, horror in her eyes.

“Yeah that’s how he told me.”

Pepper frowned, sifting through the papers she’d brought with her.

“I called our contractor this morning and he asked me to meet him there, which isn’t unusual he knows both Tony and I like seeing everything through…or at least when it comes to this I do, and even he flat out said this place shouldn’t have been sold to someone. Actually, it was about to be torn down by the city.”

Pepper handed her an official declaration of demolition by the city.

“Turns out Steve petitioned to have it saved and well since he’s Captain America, they warned against it, but let him buy it off them anyways. No asbestos, that was cleared out of the building by the last owner, but there are termites on the second and third floors hence the two holes, but the ground floor was surprisingly stable. No electrical or wiring, it was all copper and what wasn’t scavenged is shot. Pipes are a hack job and were cheaply replaced, hell parts of them are still clay based. The line to the sewer system is shot and hasn’t been replaced since this place was built. Roof needs to be replaced, the south wall needs new brick facing, from the Battle of New York so technically that’s our fault, other than that the main structure itself is the only thing that’s not an issue.”

Natasha sighed looking through the papers.

“How much is this going to cost?”

“A couple million at least and that’s only to get it up to code for selling. Which doesn’t include electrical, water, heating and cooling you know the things you need to run a business. By the end of that it’s still only a shell.”

Natasha cringed at hearing Pepper’s words.

“Look, Steve’s my friend, I talked with Tony and we’ve both agreed to help him out with the business aspects, but it’s not in anyone’s best interests to do more than that.”

That was fair, but Natasha was now in over her head with Steve in this and if she was going to continue to help him than she needed answers. She found him in his office working on reports and he looked up nodding for her to come in.

“Hey, you hear from Pepper?” Steve asked as she came around and leaned against his desk.

“I did…it’s bad Steve, like if this doesn’t work you’ll lose everything. As is you’ll be putting in more than you have by the time this place is up and running.”

His face falters at that, and she hoped that maybe _now_ he’d see it. But no, of course not, that’d be too easy!

“I’ll get the money, what I want to know is, is it achievable?”

She frowned.

“Only if you have the money…” She remined and he nodded.

“Tell Pepper I’ll get her guys the check by the end of next week to start the project.”

Natasha sighed, pushing off the desk.

“Alright.”

* * *

Sure, enough by the end of next week, he had the check and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what he did to get it. Joe could have cared less; just happy Steve kept his word and wasn’t going to push them to do anything more than what it would pay for. He also had a plan now.

“He wants to…that’s not going to work.” Pepper said flat out a few days later when she was visiting base also wondering how in the hell Steve got the money.

Tony just laughed. He was supporting this decision, encouraging his contractors, but even he knew this was farfetched.

“He wants to turn it into a speakeasy?”

“Okay, I will talk to him about that later.” Pepper said tight lipped. “But Brooklyn is already a hard-enough market, people won’t go for it. Not right now. It’s everything organic and home grown now.”

“Which is why we’re making our own.” Everyone turned around to see Steve leaning against the doorway.

_How long had he been standing there?_

“Steve do you even know how to make beer?” Tony asked, and Steve kept his face even.

“We’re not making beer we’re making whiskey and yes, I do.”

Pepper and Tony both exchanged looks of hesitation.

“Steve whiskey takes…”

“Five years in the barrel for good whisky, no scotch, it won’t work here, but bourbon will. Besides that, good whiskey has to do with ingredients not aging. If you don’t start with that it won’t matter how long, it sits in the barrel. I can have the first batch up by the time we open. I’ve already talked to a few people who are also willing to help. This isn’t my first investment.”

“Fine, it’s your money.” Natasha said, quite done with this whole thing. Pepper gave her a sympathetic look that read _welcome to my world!_

“What other investments have you made Steve?” Tony asked, and Steve smirked.

“Let’s just say this won’t be the first distillery I invest in. I’ve got a shipment from Belfast coming in five months from a guy I know. It’ll help start us off.”

“Belfast, Ireland? Irish Whiskey’s not cheap dude.” Tony added.

“I know, like I said I know a guy and it’s not just whiskey he’s sending me, I got some Guinness and IPA’s. I know what I’m doing.”

They all looked skeptical, but this was his project, so they were just going to have to take his word for it.

* * *

Five months later and the bar couldn’t have turned out better…well looks wise anyways. Steve seemed proud of himself and after some debating with Tony they finally settled on a place to distill the whiskey outside the city and got to work. Tony was still hesitant about it all, but just let him have at it. So far, everything seemed to be going well.

That is until she and Wanda were helping to organize everything at the bar and she noticed the young woman was very distracted by the brick wall.

“You okay over there?” Natasha asked, and Wanda jumped slightly her eyes tinted with a red glow.

“Shhh! I’m trying to listen.”

Natasha frowned.

“Listen to what?”

“One of the things I learned quickly about my powers was that the mind, body, and soul are one. We leave impressions on things, like brick and wood, parts of the past. Being imprisoned in an old castle made for some interesting experiments. It was like I was transported to the past. This building has almost as much energy.”

One of these days Natasha wasn’t going to be surprised by the young woman’s abilities, but today was not that day.

“Oh, and what are they showing you?”

Wanda did her best not to make a face as she placed her hand back on the brick.

“It doesn’t work like that. It’s more like feeling energy. It’s who’s energy I’m feeling right now that’s confusing me.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow.

“Whose energy are you feeling?”

“Steve’s…but it’s not the same, this is older, much older, carefree and happy. Like that of a child. But it grows sadder, and there’s a mans to, it’s much stronger if I wagered to say he died here.”

“What are you saying that Steve knew this place from his childhood?” Wanda shook her head.

“No, I’m saying he lived here, probably born here as well. I can tell when a person’s energy begins and ends in a place. It grows with you like your mind does. I hear violin and piano music; soft foreign vocals…this wasn’t just some bar this was his home.”

That would more than explain Steve’s behavior towards this place, but why? A bar of all places? She knew little to nothing about his childhood other than Barnes, so this was all news to her.

She found him later that day up in the office where he was working on the sign for outside. She walked in coming up behind him to see his handy work. _Baile_.

“Baile?” She asked, and he laughed telling her that she’d just completely butchered the pronunciation. It wasn’t any language she was familiar with and when he was done laughing he pulled her over to sit on his leg.

“It’s pronounced BAL-yeh.”

“Baile, because that makes any sense.” Natasha responded.

“I don’t complain about Russian pronunciation.” Steve quipped, and she nudged him.

“What does it mean?”

“It’s Gaelic meaning home, but it’s typically used like this to mean ‘where we come home’.”

If that wasn’t another nail in the coffin that was this mystery, she didn’t know what was.

“Is this what this place used to be to you? Home.”

He stiffened slightly, and she knew she’d hit the nail on the head.

“How’d you figure that one out?”

“Well let’s just say that apparently Wanda can read bricks too.”

Steve’s eyebrows knitted together as he looked up at her confused.

“Yeah, I don’t know either and I’m not sure I want to, but she said this place had traces of your energy that was happy and not at all like you now.”

His face turned sad and he nodded slowly. She tipped his chin up to look at her.

“Steve why didn’t you say anything?”

“I dunno. I just…I knew you guys would think I was stuck in the past or something again and yeah maybe I am, but I couldn’t stand the thought of this place being gone forever. I was born here, my dad helped build this place from the ground up.”

“Your dad?” That had to be the other energy Wanda had mentioned.

“Yeah, he uh…he passed when I was a kid. Most of my favorite memories are of him in this bar telling me stories of Ireland with my ma playing violin in the background with friends after Sunday mass.”

She saw the wonderment in his eyes like he could see it as if he was still there and with the serum he probably could.

“Dad he uh…he and I aren’t that different. Each of us coming home with a new bruise or two, used to drive Ma insane, saying her two boys would one day be the death of her.” Steve said with a little laugh shaking his head.

“He was my hero growing up, but uh…things they didn’t stay great, but never turned bad-I mean he just…when his health started to take a real turn he started sampling and it wasn’t great. He was never mean, but it was still hard to watch. When the end came he asked me to promise him that I wouldn’t continue like he had. Wouldn’t let it all become too much. Wouldn’t be able to live without a fight going on. But I still became that man. God knows I’ve got my own issues, but I don’t know…”

Natasha took a deep breath before continuing.

“What was he like?”

Steve smiled slightly scratching his nose.

“He was a protector. There was this thing, each part of town had their own guy. You had a beef with someone from another part of town they’d get their guy, you’d get yours and the two would settle your issues for you. My dad was usually the go to.”

“Of course, your inherit desire to get the shit beaten out of you on a daily basis is actually hereditary.” Natasha replied sarcastically. Steve rolled his eyes.

“Ha-ha, but yeah okay a little bit. But it was just how things were back then. My Ma didn’t approve of it as much though, especially when it became evident that I was determined to keep people from picking on others. Always said we had good hearts, but restless souls.”

“So…” Natasha wanting to kick herself for thinking it, that Steve’s dad was probably not much bigger than him.

“So, you’re picturing a twig?” Steve said with a wry smile and Natasha rolled her eyes.

“No.”

Steve chuckled.

“Believe it or not I look more like my dad now than I did then. Build wise at least. He wasn’t that tall or built, but he could hold his own. After the war he was different, according to Ma…he had marbled scars up his arms and his neck from the gas. Told me it throws people off, cause’s people to underestimate him. I just think he didn’t want me to fear him.”

“Sounds like you both struggled with wanting the other to be proud of you.” Natasha said out of observation.

Steve licked his lips nodding slowly.

“Yeah, I guess we did. I just wish he knew how proud I was of him.”

She reached up brushing a tear from his cheek and tilting his chin, so he would look at her.

“You do it by honoring his memory then. We would never think less of you for that, but doubting yourself isn’t what he’d want you to do. And while clearly your father had some questionable hobbies, he still did a pretty good job with you.”

“Thanks’…I think.” She rolled her eyes playfully at him.

“Come on soldier, we’ve still got a lot to do before Friday.”

He smiled then, letting her take him by the hand as they got to work.

* * *

He was nervous, she could tell and with only an hour till the doors opened she was a little afraid he might make a run for it. But as always, he surprised her, coming downstairs he called everyone to the bar. They decided that since the bar was a little old school they would go vintage for the night. Steve had rolled his eyes at their idea, but went along with it. He pulled out glasses for everyone, pouring whiskey into each one.

“So, I just wanted to thank you guys for going along with this crazy ride and I guess I owe you an explanation.”

“Uh yeah, big time.” Sam said nodding along with the others.

He looked to her and she came around the bar holding his hand.

“My parents owned this bar, I grew up upstairs and my dad ran this as a stop on the underground during prohibition. It’s kind of the only thing I have left of him at this moment…well that and whiskey. A lot of whiskey, that place in Belfast was originally a family business until Irish Whiskey was no longer popular and well it kind of left my folks with nothing. Until they moved here and opened this place. People loved it, loved my parents it was like coming home for a lot of people. So, when my father passed I thought I’d seen this place for the last time and when I found out it was going to be demolished I couldn’t let it happen. With everything that’s happened in the last year I felt like I needed a change, or a reminder and what better of a reminder than going home? I know it was a risk, and I guess we won’t really know the payout till after tonight, but you can’t live life without taking a few risks…sláinte!”

Everyone raised their glasses with him taking their shots.

“Oh my God what the what?!” Sam said through a cough as the others chocked.

“Wow uh…that’s kind of strong,” Tony said clearing his throat. “but not bad, what the hell was that?”

Steve picked up the bottle eyeing it.

“Whiskey, first bottle my dad ever made.”

Tony’s face fell as did the others.

“How old is that bottle?” Natasha asked him calmly.

“Old, let’s just go with that.” Steve answered timidly, as Tony looked like he was about ready to have a heart attack.

“You opened a pre-prohibition bottle of Whiskey?”

“Relax I’ve got two more cases, well different years and not all Irish since they were made here, but…” Tony’s eyes went wide.

“You have two cases…” He asked strained. “You do understand that one bottle of this stuff is worth anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000, right? Two crates would be worth at least $29,000.”

“Yeah, how do you think I paid the contractor?” Steve replied casually.

Tony got up walking away as Steve smirked a little.

“Anything else semi-illegal that you did that we don’t know about?” Rhodey asked and Steve shrugged.

“Wait so does this mean that this bottle is now worthless?” Sam asked taking the bottle.

“Completely.” Tony answered tight lipped as Pepper rubbed his arm to calm him down.

“Well then, best to not let it go to waste as well.” Sam said with a smile pouring himself another glass.

“Alright one more, then open up the doors. We’ve got people waiting.” Steve said topping off Tony’s glass as the inventor scowled at him.

* * *

As the night went on, people flowed in and out of the doors, all curious to see what this once decollate building had to offer. Only to be pleasantly surprised Steve owned it himself. She didn’t miss the surprised look in his eyes as people expressed their liking to the out of the box bar. It wasn’t huge, no line out the block, but she could see the joy it brought to his eyes at seeing people laughing and dancing as the band played.

The doors had closed, and the gang had gone back to the Tower leaving her and Steve to lock up. She was finishing up with the bar inventory when she felt him come up behind her.

“Care to dance?” Steve asked her, taking her hand before she could answer and leading her out to the floor.

They swayed to the soothing vocals flowing from the speakers for a while before she pulled away just enough to look up at him.

“So, was it everything you thought it would be?”

He hummed nodding.

“Yeah…Nat, thank you…for everything, I couldn’t have done this without you.”

She smiled softly shaking her head.

“Steve, we both know that when you put your mind to something there’s no changing it.”

He laughed softly, the sound reverberating through his chest.

“True, but I haven’t been the easiest person to deal with over last few months and you could have just ignored it and let me work it out on my own, but you didn’t. You have been my grounding rock…”

She could see there was something else behind his eyes and she gave his hand a squeeze encouraging him.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is…I love you.”

She took a sharp breath searching his eyes seeing the proof in his soft gaze. Leaning up she pressed her lips to his, his hand coming up to cup her cheek.

“I love you too,” She replied, smiling against his lips, “but next time you come up with some crazy, hairbrained, half-baked idea, leave me out of it.”

He laughed whole heartedly at that, nodding.

“So, I guess there’s no chance you might let me take you upstairs?”

She raised an eyebrow at his boldness, a smirk forming on her lips.

“Why Mr. Rogers, I don’t see why we can’t come to an agreement on that.” Natasha said, running her hands up his chest.

“I can assure you Ms. Romanoff, I’m very persuasive when I want to be.” Steve replied playing along, his hands sliding around her waist.

“Hm, well we’ll just have to see, won’t we?” Natasha teased stepping out of his embrace as she took his hand leading him up the stairs.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sláinte: good health.   
> Pronounced Slawn-cha  
> Comments are always appreciated!


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